REFLECTIONS
April 18, 2010
 
 
For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6
 
 
Places Unwanted
 
It wasn’t the first time I had been placed in an undesirable place and it would not be the last. But one particular day I found myself in a place I never wanted to be in a role I never wanted to play. It doesn’t matter the place or the role, most likely we have all found ourselves in places unwanted. In life God calls us to places we do not want to go to do something we do not want to do. He has a long history of it.
Daniel didn’t choose to be among those exiled to Babylon. His commitment to God was tested there. But even to prove his commitment, he would have never chosen a lions’ den as a place to show it. God placed Daniel where He wanted him to be so He could use him for his good purpose.
Then there was Jonah. He is a person I relate to. We remember him mostly for his episode with a big fish. But he found himself in the belly of a fish because he was running from a task God had given him. He refused to go where God asked him to go, and he rejected the task God asked him to do. Nineveh was a wicked place and Jonah didn’t like the people there. He wanted God to destroy them, but he knew God had other plans. God used Jonah to save them.
God is always working to save people. That’s the reason He sent his Son into the world. So, just as He called Jonah to a wicked city, He called Jesus into a wicked world. Just as Jonah was asked to preach against wickedness, Jesus was asked to sacrifice his life so we might live. Jonah ran away from God. Jesus was obedient to Him. Jonah was dragged back to the place God wanted him to be. Jesus remained where God had called him. Even as He prayed to have his task removed, He picked up his cross and died for us.
God calls us to places we don’t want to go. He asks us to do what we would never choose to do. We can run like Jonah or obey like Jesus. We can follow our own desires, or we can pick up our crosses and follow our Lord wherever He asks us to go.
On one particular day I found myself in a place unwanted in a role I didn’t want to play. Given the choice I might have run away. And as I look back on it now, I am still unsure of God’s plan or in what ways He may have used me back then. One thing is sure.
God calls us to places unwanted for his Light to shine out of darkness.
 
“You are the light of the world.”
RichardÌ

www.reflectingthesavior.org.


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